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Saturday, November 5, 2011

NaNoWriMo: Changing direction. Again. Maybe a few times.

So, new thoughts on NaNoWriMo.

See, I like my plot. It's not just good enough, I actually like it. And the characters. And the several different ways that it could go. And I strongly suspect that it's a concept that won't benefit from the frantic "Hey! That could be a scene with a lot of words!" approach of NaNoWriMo. At least, that's my approach to NaNoWriMo.

So.

See.

It's a problem.

Now that I've found the plot that I wanted, I'm seriously considering doing something else. Something that would probably go in the NaNoWriMo Rebel category. I'd still count the 5,573 words I've written so far; that would be part of the rebel thing.

So, something else, like a nonfiction book about clutter and hoarding and, while I'm at it, why all the experts demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding of compulsive hoarders.

Or a nonfiction book about gardening. Writing fifty thousand words (OK, 44,427 words) about gardening might finally break through my "Why can't I write about gardening?" block. Admittedly, I already know that much of the explanation of the block is "Because I can't write as well as Henry Mitchell, that's why." But all the same, the fact that I can't write as well as Calvin Trillin doesn't stop me from writing about food.

Or, see, I could go on a blogging frenzy and write forty-four-thousand-and-change words of blog posts. Would that just be sheer mad madness? Probably, because fifty thousand words doesn't really allow for, y'know, editing, and I like to edit before I post.

But it does mean that I could count this post. So it'd only be (frantic calculation) 44,159 words to go.

2 comments:

You know, you should just write about whatever comes to your mind and you want to put to paper (or screen) and then when the NaNoWriMo is over - you could take a look back and see what it was that was easiest to write and where the process took you and what came out of it. In short - stop thinking about writing and start writing (and writing about writing doesn't count). ;)